New Eight-Lane Subhash Bridge Rebuild to Keep Ahmedabad’s 2.5 lakh Commuters Waiting for Two Years

Commuters will have to wait at least two years to cross the Sabarmati River via the Subhash Bridge after the municipal corporation decided to tear down the 53-year-old structure and build a brand-new ₹241-crore, eight-lane bridge.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has set a 24-month deadline for the entire project, but has ordered the construction firm to open at least one side of the new eight-lane bridge within 16 months to ease the traffic choking local diversion routes.

The urgency behind the tight timeline is underscored by the immense traffic load the bridge carried. Serving as one of Ahmedabad's busiest transit corridors, the crossing handled between 1.7 lakh and 2.5 lakh vehicles every single day, operating at near-maximum capacity during peak hours. Its sudden closure has forced this massive volume of daily commuters onto already-congested detour routes like the Dadhichi Bridge and the Sabarmati Riverfront.

Work has already started on the ground, with crews completing the demolition of three crumbling concrete spans right in the middle of the riverbed. Teams are now clearing the debris so they can begin drilling the deep, wide foundations for the new pillars.

The decision to scrap the original plan—which only involved a ₹236-crore repair job—came after engineers from IIT Bombay, IIT Roorkee, and SVNIT Surat ran a series of safety tests. They found deep cracks and decaying concrete running right into the underwater pillars, meaning the old 1973 foundations were far too weak to save.

The 453-metre bridge, which connects Ranip and Shahibaug, was shut down on 4 December last year after a major crack appeared near Pillar 9. Instead of another patch-up job, the new steel-composite bridge will feature modern waterproofing, architectural lighting, and is built to last a century.